We arn't allowed to bash HL anymore... because it brought us Natural Selection. ^_^
I always found it bad taste to call a game good or bad based on how it compares to other games of the same type. If you want to bash something bash a feature or something in the game that has been copied, but each game as a whole seems to stand on their own, since no two are totaly a like. If you are so stuck in the past of gaming you won't be able to see past that image of what a game should/chould be like when it's different. Each new game should be a new experiance, and push gaming forwards not keep it trapped in it's past.